Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Religious Freedom

lord oates: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Foreign and Commonwealth Office staff are employed in overseas countries who are dedicated to advancing freedom of religion or belief.

baroness anelay of st johns: Ambassadors and High Commissioners, supported by their diplomatic staff, are expected to promote, protect and integrate human rights, including freedom of religion or belief throughout their work.

Department for Exiting the European Union

EU Law

lord lester of herne hill: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they intend to publish the White Paper on the Great Repeal Bill.

lord bridges of headley: I refer the noble Lord to the answer given on 20 February 2017 to Question HL5308. The Government will bring forward a White Paper on the Great Repeal Bill in advance of introduction of the Great Repeal Bill in the next session. It will set out our approach to giving effect to withdrawal on the domestic statute book.

Department for International Development

Yemen: Famine

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they intend to take in response to the UN warning of risk of famine in Yemen; and whether they intend to take action to promote access to food for those affected by the famine.

lord bates: In 2016/17 UK Aid has so far supported 462,000 people with food or food vouchers, and 889,000 women and children with nutrition interventions. In 2015/16, the UK helped over one million people in Yemen with emergency humanitarian assistance, including over 730,000 benefitting from food. The Secretary of State for International Development has issued a call to action to the international community to step up their response in Yemen, as one of four potential famines in 2017.

Developing Countries: Religious Freedom

lord alton of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the link between the protection of religious minority groups and alleviating global poverty.

lord bates: A commitment to human rights underpins the four strategic objectives of the Government's UK Aid Strategy, which include tackling extreme poverty and helping the world’s most vulnerable. Freedom of belief is one of a range of human rights that DFID considers through its Partnership Principles Assessments when providing financial support to governments.

Department for Education

Teaching Methods

lord bird: To ask Her Majesty’s Governmentwhat assessment they have made of the pedagogical rationale and practices of the Ralston-Semler Foundation Lumiar schools, with specific reference to their mosaic curricula.

lord nash: The Department has not made any direct assessment of the Ralston-Semler Foundation Lumiar schools. The mosaic curricula the Lumiar schools have developed is a personalised project based curriculum that focuses on developing skills and competencies. The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has undertaken research on individualised instruction but has not evaluated the mosaic curricula or these schools. The EEF rate individualised instruction as low impact based on a moderate strength of evidence: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/resources/teaching-learning-toolkit/individualised-instruction/ The Sutton Trust and Durham University have also published an overview of effective pedagogy which notes that discovery learning is not supported by research evidence. This can be found in the attached document.



what_makes_great_teaching
(PDF Document, 787.98 KB)

Part-time Education

lord watson of invergowrie: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to implement Chapter 1 of Part 4 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 in order to ensure that institutions which provide part-time education for one or more persons of compulsory school age are subject to the same inspection and regulatory regime as independent schools.

lord nash: We have no immediate plans to implement the provisions in Chapter 1 of Part 4 of the Education and Skills Act which enable the registration and regulation of institutions providing part-time education because we do not intend to bring such settings into the same regulatory system as used for independent schools. However, the Government remains committed to regulating out-of-school education settings. Between November 2015 and January 2016 we conducted a call for evidence to gather information on the number of settings, hours of operation, number of children who attend and the frequency of attendance along with any safeguarding procedures and concerns in these settings. We will respond to the call for evidence and set out next steps in due course.

ICT: Extracurricular Activities

baroness smith of basildon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many schools in England and Wales offer coding as an extracurricular activity.

lord nash: The Department does not hold or collect data on how many schools in England and Wales offer coding as an extracurricular activity.The Government has supported extracurricular coding initiatives, such as Code Club, which benefitted from funding through the Cabinet Office’s Centre for Social Innovation Action Fund. Additionally, coding has been part of the English National Curriculum at all four Key Stages since 2014. The computing curriculum includes the basics of programming, and encourages pupils to design computer programs. All maintained schools must follow the computing curriculum and academies and free schools may use it as a benchmark.

Ministry of Justice

Offenders: Females

lord beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consultations they have conducted in the preparation of their strategy for improving the safety and reform of female offenders in custody and in the community; and when that strategy will be published.

lord keen of elie: We are engaging with a wide range of interested parties as we develop our strategy to improve outcomes for female offenders in the community and custody, including through the Department’s Advisory Board for Female Offenders, which brings together key stakeholders, criminal justice partners and senior officials from other Government Departments to provide expert advice and challenge on policy and practice that has an impact on female offenders. We will set out our strategy in due course.

Young Offenders: Travellers

lord beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 13 February (HL5073), whether governors will be encouraged to work with specialist Gypsy, Traveller and Roma education providers.

lord keen of elie: As part of our youth justice reforms, we will ensure governors have increased flexibility to work with providers to decide how education is best delivered. It will be for them to decide how best to meet the different needs of all young people in their establishments.

Legal Profession: Conduct

lord blencathra: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to consult on the creation of a fully independent body able to investigate and to rule on the ethics, conduct and behaviour of lawyers, with the ability to bring criminal prosecutions against solicitors and barristers for breaches of the law.

lord blencathra: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to set up a public inquiry to investigate the ethics of lawyers.

lord keen of elie: The UK’s world leading legal services industry is based on the talent and professionalism of those who work within it. The legal profession in England and Wales is independent from government, as are the bodies that regulate it. The Law Society is the body with statutory authority to regulate solicitors. It is required to ensure the independence of its regulatory function, which is delivered through the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority. It would be for the police to investigate any allegations of criminal conduct. If the police consider, after investigation, that there is a case to answer they will place the matter before the Crown Prosecution Service for action. Where an issue of public concern needs investigating, the Minister may cause an inquiry to be held under the Inquiries Act 2005. There are no current plans to set up an inquiry into the ethics of lawyers.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Government Art Collection

lord freyberg: To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they have decided to exhibit items from the Government Art Collection in a new London venue rather than outside the capital; and what the cost of the exhibition, including the new venue, will be.

lord ashton of hyde: We are looking at options for increasing public access to the Government Art Collection (GAC) in London or around the country. Around two-thirds of the collection's holdings of over 14,000 works of art are already on display in more than 370 UK government buildings at home and abroad. An exhibition from the Collection will be held in Hull during its tenure as the UK City of Culture in the autumn and works from the Collection are on loan to public exhibitions.

Social Enterprises

lord bird: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they (1) currently support, and (2) plan to support, the social enterprise and social investment sectors across the UK.

lord ashton of hyde: The Government continues to deliver a number of initiatives to support social enterprises. Specifically we have strengthened the social investment market by building the infrastructure, for example by setting up Big Society Capital, the world’s first wholesale social investment institution, which has already made over £587m worth of investments. We have also set up Access, a £60m foundation for social investment, which supports social enterprises to take on investment. In addition, the Government has increased opportunities for social enterprises to win public sector contracts by developing 32 operational Social Impact Bonds, which are a type of outcomes based contracts to deliver public services. We have also encouraged individuals to invest in social enterprises through the world’s first Social Investment Tax Relief that allows people to offset 30% of the cost of their investment from their income tax liability. UK charities and social enterprises have raised £3.4m in two years thanks to the relief. Access to procurement opportunities for social enterprises has been facilitated through the Social Value Act, which encourages commissioners to consider the social value of their suppliers. The Government continues to support the growth of public service mutuals to promote greater employee input within organisations. 115 public service mutuals have been created since 2010. The recent Industrial Strategy Green Paper reaffirmed the government's commitment to social enterprise, and the government is currently consulting on this.

Channel Four Television: Public Appointments

lord ouseley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration was given to the equality and diversity composition of the Channel 4 Board when the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport endorsed the appointment of four men to the Board and rejected the one female candidate who had also been recommended for appointment.

lord ashton of hyde: Non-executive members of the Channel 4 Corporation board are appointed by Ofcom with the approval of the Secretary of State. Ofcom advertised for four vacancies for candidates with specific sector skills and experience. The Secretary of State approved the four candidates on the basis that they met the skills and experience set out in the advertised job descriptions.

Public Appointments: Equality

lord ouseley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what evidence they have to determine progress on the implementation of policies and practices to achieve diversity of representation on the boards of organisations supported by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, with particular reference to black and minority ethnic women and disabled people's membership.

lord ashton of hyde: The government is committed to ensuring diversity within public appointments. The Cabinet Office aspiration is for 50% of new appointments made by each Government Department to go to female candidates, and 10% to candidates from a BAME background. This target is also contained within the DCMS Departmental Plan, and, in the first three quarters of 2016/17, 56% of new DCMS appointments went to women and 16% to BAME candidates.

Sports: Finance

lord pendry: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the remarks by the Sports Minister to Sports Management in January that the Sporting Future strategy "effectively starts properly from April", whether they will provide additional funding for sports under the strategy; and if so, whether that additional funding will be sufficient to enable local authorities to reverse planned cuts to funding for sporting provision.

lord ashton of hyde: The remark made by the Sports Minister in Sports Management magazine is reference to the fact that the funding set out in Sporting Future and Sport England's strategy, Towards an Active Nation, comes in as of April 2017, when the new financial year begins. This is when a number of the new investment programmes set out in Towards an Active Nation will begin. Local authorities are the biggest investors in sport and physical activity. Good local authorities will recognise the value of investing in sport and physical activity for the long term benefits this brings to their residents' physical and mental wellbeing. Sport England works with local authorities in England to provide advice and expertise on how sports facilities in their communities can be managed in a strategic, cost-effective and sustainable way.

Gambling: Children

baroness smith of basildon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 12 January (HL Deb, col 2064), how many times the Gambling Commission has taken action for failure to prevent underage gambling in each year since 2010; and what were the penalties issued in each case.

baroness smith of basildon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 12 January (HL Deb, col 2064), what is the conviction rate of people who have been reported for failure to prevent underage gambling.

lord harris of haringey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 12 January (HL Deb, col 2067), how many times the Gambling Commission took action against those failing to prevent underage gambling in each year since 2010; and what penalties were issued in each case.

lord ashton of hyde: The protection of children from being harmed or exploited by gambling is one of the three licensing objectives that underpin the regulation of gambling in Great Britain. The Commission use a range of tools to prevent children from accessing gambling, one of which is to issue penalties. The Gambling Commission licence and regulate gambling operators but individual gambling premises (across the land based sectors) are regulated by licensing authorities (local authorities). Any individual action in relation to land based gambling premises regarding underage gambling would therefore be taken by licensing authorities; as such, the Government does not hold the number of people convicted of failing to prevent underage gambling. In terms of online, from November 2014 the Commission’s regulatory framework was extended to include, for the first time, remote gambling operators that are based outside of Britain but are selling to customers here. In February 2017 the Gambling Commission prosecuted two men who were offering online unlicensed gambling to children. Fines and costs totalled £265,000.

Gambling: Children

baroness smith of basildon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 12 January (HL Deb, col 2064), what measures are available to the Gambling Commission to take action against overseas providers which fail to prevent underage gambling.

lord ashton of hyde: All operators that offer bets to people in Great Britain must obtain a licence from the Gambling Commission. Where an operator breaches the conditions of its licence the Gambling Commission has a range of powers at its disposal, including financial penalties, imposition of licence conditions or revoking the licence. Where websites are identified that are offering facilities for gambling to customers in Britain without the appropriate licence the Commission will take action to ensure compliance with the licensing regime.

Gambling: Children

lord harris of haringey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 12 January (HL Deb, col 2067), what measures are available to the Gambling Commission to take action against overseas providers who fail to prevent underage gambling.

lord ashton of hyde: All operators that offer bets to people in Great Britain must obtain a licence from the Gambling Commission. Where an operator breaches the conditions of its licence the Gambling Commission has a range of powers at its disposal, including financial penalties, imposition of licence conditions or revoking the licence. Where websites are identified that are offering facilities for gambling to customers in Britain without the appropriate licence the Commission will take action to ensure compliance with the licensing regime.

Cabinet Office

Politics: Education

lord lexden: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations in the WebRoots Democracy report, Democracy 2:0: Hitting refresh on the Digital Democracy Commission; and what assessment they have made of its call to make political education compulsory in schools.

lord young of cookham: The Government notes the recommendations in The Institute for Digital Democracy’s report ‘Democracy 2:0: Hitting refresh on the Digital Democracy Commission’ and thanks them for their work in this very important area. The subject of citizenship has been part of the national curriculum for secondary maintained schools since 2002. One of the aims of citizenship education is to ensure that young people acquire a sound knowledge and understanding of how the United Kingdom is governed, its political system and how citizens participate actively in its democratic systems of government. New statutory programmes giving schools greater freedom over how to teach their Citizenship curriculum, including the aspects of political literacy, have already been established, taking effect in September 2014. In addition, The Government also has a range of free learning resources, such as Rock Enrol!, that aim to engage young people in the democratic system and can be used in an educational setting.